My recent visit to Italy could very well be featured in the pages of Julio Cortázar’s La vuelta del día.

Within 24 hours I found myself in Siena, Florence, Padova and Milano, faced with small and large Jewish communities, with cemeteries and country fairs, chamber orchestras and street bands, local culinary specialties, book readings, and speeches by rabbis, community leaders, mayors, city officers, and the representatives of political parties, volunteers’ organizations, banks and foundations… Well, altogether a full-fledging memory circus: I started with music from 1786, and ended with those from 2008, and I must confess that I did not favor the latter ones.

This is the European Day of Jewish Culture, which in Italy, as Ruth Gruber writes, has more of a following than anywhere else. It is a chance to display the Jewish past, its somewhat uncomfortable present, and the presence, survival and uncertain future of one of the oldest communities in the Diaspora. Clearly, it is an important day for artists and intellectuals, who are involved in concerts, shows, presentations, lectures and full-sized academic conferences. It is also a unique chance for many non-Jewish people to visit sites that sit geographically very close to them, but also light-years away from their daily experience. This is particularly true of the synagogues, who where once widely frequented by everyone, but that since Palestinian terrorism began making victims in Italy as well, are guarded by the State Police. But the European Day of Jewish Culture is also a political showcase, and a chance to strengthen the relationship between the Jewish communities (or what is left of them) and the society, the politics and the economy of Italy.

This year, since the topic of the day was music, I found myself right in the middle of the “storm.” In spite of the geographical distance (I live in California), I received many invitations from all over Italy. Very generously, the Community and the University of Padova assisted me in traveling there, which made it possible for me to take part in this event. It was a very quick visit: six days including travel time. I have gathered impressions and images, which I will be gradually sharing over the next few days.

I will leave the description of the other things I did during the few days I was in Italy — including archival research in Florence (yum!), study plans in Siena (yum!), possible digital partnerships with Padova (yum!), and even an article for La Repubblica (Milan edition)… — to future posts.

For now, here’s a list of the events in which I took part (traveling by train, without teleporting myself):

SIENA, Saturday, September 6 (9 pm): Synagogue. First modern performance of the music composed in 1786 by Francesco Drei and Volunio Gallichi for the opening of the local synagogue. Short introductory lecture: Jews and Christians Meet One Another: Synagogue Music at the Dawn of Modernity.